parasites. well, i think at this point, you are not going to be surprised to find out that youngerman got a $1 million federal farm subsidy from 1995 on and he just says, look that is my money coming become to me, i'm not a parasite. that is the whole point, they think well it doesn't count if it's me, i'm getting the millions, it is okay. they are the new welfare queens. need a good shrink. thank you cenk. i'm dylan, hard ball is up right now. meet the new boss, same as the old boss. let's play some "hardball." i'm michael smer con nish in to for chris matthew its. republicans are readying to take

control. how do they prove they are willing to change by keeping the same leadership. nancy pelosi and top lieutenants will hold onto their jobs despite challenges from both liberals and moderates. tonight, we will talk to one of those leaders who keeping his job and a moderate democratic a vocal pelosi critic. connecticut senator elect richard blumenthal is one of the few candidates who beat back the republican tide. i will ask him what he is going to do to help his party regain voter confidence and if i can the economy. can you believe republicans actually rebuffed president obama's white house invite for tomorrow? will this play right into the president's hands? also, more than 80% of americans support the use of the new airport body scanners so is that enough to quell calls by privacy rights advocates to boycott those intrusive scanners on the day before thanksgiving in the head of the tsa says passengers who object to all enhanced screenings will not get

on the plane and he will be here tonight. and let me finish with some thoughts about homework. we start with the democratic leadership, same as it ever was. congressman john larson of connecticut is the democratic caucus chair. congratulations on maintaining that position. there is a perspective you heard from others that said you didn't get the message, 60 lost their seats and the same face for the leadership of democrats. how do you respond? >> we did get the message and it was a heart-felt message. we heard in more than five hours yesterday from our members, including members that won't be joining us in the 12212th congress, michael t is about jobs it is about the economy, we get t certainly while it was a historic caucus, we didn't get enough done on behalf of people. we'd roosevelt moment and we responded in many respects like hoover. so we know that we have a lot more to do. we hope that we can work with

the republicans now inste. now instead of saying no, they have the opportunity to come forward and create jobs. we will join them with that. this is about the american people and when you are out of work and don't have employment, times are tough, they are tough but we are committed to respond in a way that will be helpful to the american people and put them back to work. >> congressman larson there is a temptation to think this is a lot of inside baseball but i offer you the perspective of a radio host who sits in a studio and hears commercial after come mers in that last cycle on radio stations across the country where speaker pelosi was the face. speaker pelosi was the voice that republicans very effectively used in a successful campaign. so you know to that person's perspective, you kept her in position, all to be not as the speaker. >> i think anyone who is demonized with more than $75 million, ratings are going to be low. but what i would with say to the american people and certainly what our caucus had to say is

that we understand her heart and we understand her will. we understand her effectiveness. that's why she was demonized. and frankly, what this is about at the end of the day suspect about nancy pelosi or john larson or any of our leadership. this is going to be about the american people and working to on their behalf. and so that's what the caucus came together around. and everybody had an opportunity to speak. and i am so proud of the camaraderie and the feelings that were emanating from our caucus. it was actually uplifting and a very difficult two days. >> take me if you would, sir inside that caucus and paint the picture for me. what did the speaker have to say? >> the speak der shall i think what is important is what the member also to say. what the members had to say about her and about her effectiveness and about their districts and about their willingness to run again and how we had to keep the faith and also members in striking candor we were talking about how

difficult it was to be associated with her and to be branded that way. what people talked about was the citizens united decisions and what happened with the disclose act. members stood up and said we shouldn't pass anything from the senate until they wake up and pass the disclose act so that all the dirty money that's gone into soiling not only the good name of nancy pelosi but all of these races across the country. we have got to wake up to that i thank a lot of people on msnb who at least get it and talk about it, as opposed as you point out, michael, a lot of the stations around the country that don't. >> regardless of how we got here, one wonders if you did a gaver to the president today, because it now sets the stage for 2012, presumably he is running for re-election and you can already see those images and hear those commercials. >> well i think, again it is going to be about jobs and going to be about the economy and certainly, i think the president understands this and i said before, we have a roosevelt moment. there has got to be more

fireside chats, connecting with the people. we have got to have the ability to do that we have an articulate, young, visionary president who is certainly very capable of doing that. we look forward to working with him to achieve those goals but we are certainly bound and determined to focus on jobs and this economy. our slogan continues to be make it an america so every american can make it. >> congressman, there was an interesting analysis offered at politico today by jonathan allen and john harris that suggested among the reasons why the speaker maintained her leadership position within the democratic party was to hold the white house in check, that she would be a progressive check on a president's temptation this president's temptation to gravitate toward the middle. does that make sense to you as someone who was supportive of her? had. >> well, certainly, you know, it is important that congress, as a body, be an important check on the executive branch but we look forward to working with this administration. certainly nancy has demonstrated she can do that but she is.

i think that is a good analysis. she is an important check, not only on the president but on the senate as well and i think you are going to see a more determined house come around in terms of our relationship with the senate and our ability to work with the executive branch and she certainly does represent that but more importantly, we know how to work together with peoplement we are following reach across ate yell to the republicans, they have a to reach across ate yell and work with democrats and republicans and put america back to work. that is what our charge s we will not turn back the clock. we will stick with our principles, we will not allow the privatization of social security and the vouchering of medicare and we will fight for american jobs that as we see our goals we won't turn back the clock again on wall street reforms either. that's what we stand for. that's why i'm proud to be a democrat. >> you mentioned working across ate yell. i think it doesn't bode well for the country if a dinner invitation extended by the

president is snubbed and that's what it appears to be from all accounts for tomorrow night. is that a sign of what's to come? >> i think the republicans are in disarray. they are having a battle within their own caucus in terms about who's controlling their caucus. is it the tea party? i heard john mccain today questioning the tea party and their influence within the senate and within the house as well. so, they are going to be going through struggles as well. i think the important thing is to focus on jobs. we demonstrated in our caucus that we can work together. dan boran, who you are going to hear from next work together with a guy like t. boone pickens to put america's energy system back together in support of the natural gas act, create the kind of jobs that we need here in this country and put america back to work. that's what we have got to do, that's what our caucus is for. >> you make reference to congressman boran, i think of congressman born as blue dog democrat. does this spell the death knell,

politically speaking, of blue dog democrats, the result of this vote today? is there a police for them in your party? >> not at all. there is a big tent in our party and a huge spot for the blue dogs. they were articulate. they did a great job, both yesterday in our five-hour-long caucus and today in our organizational meeting. and the important thing in our caucus is that we can sit down and reason together, even where we disagree and not going to have agreement that is why we have such a huge tent. what we know is we can work together toward a common goal and a come mop goal we share is jobs. >> thank you very much, congressman john larson. we are going to talk to blue dog democrat boran in a moment. but first, nancy captor last week on "hardball." >> i look forward to appliances with some of the tea party republicans elected because when nafta passed in 1993, we only had a 12-vote margin that would have made the difference and

look at the terrible hemorrhage of jobs that occurred because of that i will tell you, i think that there's a real democratic tea party/republican alliance to be born in this new congress and if it doesn't happen, the people who don't support jobs in this country wouldn't be re-elected two years from now. >> and the suggestion of congresswoman captor's comments, she expresses a willingness to work with the tea party. i wonder if congressman dan born feels the same way. congressman, i now you heard the tail end of what, it is your willingness to reach across the aisle and work with tea party capped accounts? >> i am willing to work with anybody, anybody that brings this country together to solve problems. i think they are tired of the partisansh partisanship, they want people to work for common sense solutions to bring this economy back. we are so tired of the polarization, i don't care who it is whether the republicans, democrats, blue dogs, independents, you know, progressives, whatever the

strife, we have got to set these differences aside and frankly, today, we'd big leadership election and some of us on the more conservative side of the democratic caucus were disappointed, but the focus is going away from the congress to the president. >> you had said, sir that you intended to vote against the speaker in her leadership capacity. did you, indeed, cast that ballot? >> i did. i voted for heath schuller of north carolina, a more conservative democrat. i will vote on the floor of the house for a more conservative democrat than nancy pelosi. let me ask you if i may what i asked congressman larson from the outside looking in, here is a party that got drubbed in the election, lost more than 60 seats and holds onto the same leadership. it seems as if the party's tone deaf. >> i agree with you. the problem is we only had 43 votes. i think most americans would agree there needed to be some changes but unfortunately, they didn't have those votes. there were over -- there are 150

democrats who voted to stay with the same leadership, but what i'm going to try to do is move forward, see if the president, frankly, again back to the president, he has got to move to the middle, he is way off on the left flank, frankly, i can tell you from oklahoma he is. he has got to get to the middle. is he going to be bill clinton or is he going to be jimmy carter? going to be a one-term president or a two-term president? >> would you go so far, congressman, to say that it was selfish for those that maintained leadership positions not to stand down? >> well, i was very public. i thought that we needed a new direction, we needed new leadership, but you know, the elections are over. i tried my darndest. i have been speaking out all over, not only in oklahoma but all across the country here in washington, d.c. and unfortunately, my caucus did not listen. but you know, what do we do now that is the thing. the leadership election was lost. now what do we do? i think it's really up to the

president. the president, has the big podium, not necessarily the minority leader. >> do you interpret -- i only have 30 singhs left, do you interpret speaker pelosi's success today as progressives saying we need her here to hold him, the president, in check so that he doesn't drift toward the middle? >> well, they did say that but that's why it's so important to see what the president's reaction is going to be. is he going to extend the tax cuts, which i support? we cannot raise taxes in the middle of a recession. >> congressman -- >> we have got to work with the business community. people are not talking about that. democrats need to work with the kpis best community. barack obama needs to work with the business community. the people that create jobs in this country. >> congressman dan born, thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. thank you. coming up, meet the freshman richard blumenthal beat linda mcmahon in the connecticut senate race. he survived a republican wave and he will tell us what he will do once he takes his seat. you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc.

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welcome back to "hardball." all this week on "hardball," we meeting some of the newest members of the house and senate. joining me now, senator-elect richard blumenthal who currently is connecticut's attorney general. he defeated former world wrestling entertainment ceo linda mcmahon by 12 points. senator, full disclosure, i once predicted on "hardball" that would you never survive, politically speaking that flap over your military record. congratulations, you did so. >> thank you. thank you vef. a very decisive victory and very

glad to have won after being outspent 7 to 1, but i'm here because people of connecticut know me, they know my record and that may not have always been as apparent to folks who didn't live here and perhaps the national press as well. >> earmarks. senators mccaskill and udall say been a them what do you say? >> i say at a minimum, at a minimum, we should end the secret earmarks that have so bedeviled the process and undermined confidence and there all the to be a rational process if there are designated spending for any state or district. butte but earmarks are only a tiny part of the deficit, a fraction of less than 1%. i'm much more concern about the major options for cutting spend and getting serious about reducing our national debt and i made very specific proposals how to do it. >> would you treat those upper 2% income earns getting so much attention in this conversation?

>> i believe there ought to be an extensions of tax cuts for the middle class. i have opposed extending the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2%. the idea that somehow those tax breaks benefit small businesses i think is a complete ruse, but i would and i stress i am very strongly in support of tax relief for small businesses. priority number one has to be aid for those small businesses in the form of more capital, more and -- and more secure deducti deductions, r&d tax credits for small businesses the major source of job creation in this country, more than 70% of all new jobs and need more infrastructure investment, so, getting america back to work, putting america become on track in connecticut, fighting for those people who are out of work and small businesses that need that kind of tax relief and capital 'cause the banks aren't making loans has to be priority number one. >> speaking of your home state of connecticut where you remain the attorney general, i would be remiss if i didn't ask you for a

comment on that horrific set of circumstances presented in the home invasion case that has captivated much of the nation. would you agree with me, i hope that the death penalty is warranted in that case for he who has already been convicted and number two, should he be convicted as well? >> if the death penalty is warranted in any case and i support the death penalty in cases of heinous and horrific crime, certainly, this one is absolutely a poster person for it. both hayes and his co-defendant certainly deserve the death penalty. >> dr. petit, a rock, a steel-willed individual, unlike any i've ever paid attention to in the past. >> you know, i think he has provided inspiration, not only for his immediate family and for people who know him but really for the entire state, maybe for others outside the state of connecticut, not only in his courage and dedication and his perseverance, coming to court

every day, staying with the process that unfortunately, as some criminal justice cases illustrate, and i say this as a former united states attorney now as well as attorney general sometimes fails to move as quickly as it should. >> another issue that's been on your agenda as attorney general that you will deal with now in the united states senate, health insurance. and i know if not today, perhaps it was yesterday, anthem, can you give us the cliff's note version of what was going on? >> i was in the insurance commission hearings literally today opposing a 20% rate increase request, completely unjustified. i have fought anthem and other insurance companies in their rate increase requests year after year. last year, anthem received a 20-plus percent increase. recently, a 30 to 50% increase. now it wants a 20% increase on some of its plans. and i have also fought, by the

way, insurance companies when they fail to cover people under policies using excuses like pre-existing conditions and the doctor's out of network, the treatment is experimental. my experience lead knows believe we can't go back to a time when insurance companies made the rules and ran the show, which is why i want these protections for consumers, improve the health care bill by cutting costs but not repeal t. >> i wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a 20% increase but why can't the market solve that problem? why does it require government intervenes? >> because the market is not as competitive as it should be, very simply. as you know, the anti-trust laws fail to provide the kind of protection in this industry they might in others and the free market fails to operate in a way that it should, which is why there has to be stronger regulation or scrutiny, at least, oversight and scrutiny, this health care bill -- better

protection. >> senator, i'm a fill-in guy, help me make news tonight, are you for lieberman in 2012. >> i'm not going to make news for you there we have just finished literally a little more than two weeks ago an election and i think folks are pretty well tired of elections, campaigning and i'm going to let that one go. >> all right, thank you -- i had to try. thank you attorney general blumenthal, incoming senator from connecticut, we appreciate your time. >> thank you. up next, now that he has broken ground on his presidential library what is president bush planning to do with this infamous banner declaring mission accomplished? the side show is straight ahead. you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. if you live for performance,

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welcome back to "hardball." time now for the side show. first up, now that construction is under way for president bush's library, what to do with that mission accomplished banner. you remember it, the ban they're hung on the "uss abraham lincoln" when bush declare the end of combat operations in iraq? that was may 1, 2003. now the banner's in storage and will become part of the library's collection. whether and how it's displayed is still to be decide bud if the decider has his way, i think we know what he would prefer. >> no question it was a mistake. >> yeah one, of those times where your words were used against you over and over again. >> no, that happens when you are president. and if i had to do it over again, which you don't get to do when you're the president, you know, i would have said, good going, men and women. great mission. >> sounds like it might stay in storage for a while. remember the florida pastor who threatened to burn the koran to protest an islamic center near ground zero?

now, he says his anti-muslim zeal cost him his congregation. yesterday, as he visited ground zero, he told reporters this left because "they are not interested in the truth." well, flock or no flock, the pastor keeps on going. he has got a facebook page for his new effort, stand up america, an organization that he says will teach about the dangers of radical islam and as ask for the book burning, pastor jones told a reporter no plans to burn the koran but may call for international judge the koran day. that's way congresss -- congregation. outgoing florida governor charlie crist will submit mor s morrison's name to the clemency board. he was convicted of charges of profanity and indecent exposure during a 1969 convert in miami. governor crist reviewed the he have evidence and we don't really know if the alleged 'act occurred. morrison was appealing the conviction when he died two years later. now, imagine if crist had done this before the election, a

coalition of baby boomer doors fans mites have sent him not tot senate. finally, tonight's big number it involves a beverage quaintly nicknamed blackout in a can. today, the fda moved to clamp down on these drink which is combine alcohol and caffeine, sending warning letters to four companies that make them. one of the most popular, which is the equivalent of drinking three beers and a tall cup of coffee is called four loco. that is tonight's big number, four. up next, president obama invited republican leader to the white house last night but the republican snubbed him. they are not going. what does that tell you about how things will go in washington for the next two years? you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. peggy, yes, i'd like to redeem my reward points for a gift card. tell points please? 250,000. calculating... ooh! answer: five fifty! 550 bucks?! 5 dollar, 50 cents. minus redeeming charge. leaving 50 cents. say what? happy time!

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your cnbc market wrap. stocks trading mixed most of the day ending right about where they started, the dow slipping 15, the s & p up a fraction, and the nasdaq moving six points higher. investors trading cautiously today, wondering what the european union has in mind for dealing with ireland's debt crisis a team of eu and imf experts will land in ireland tomorrow to begin hammering a rescue plan. back here at home, an avalanche of strong earnings and outlooks, target, chico's, bj wholesale better-than-expected earnings and strong holiday forecasts. home builders took hate, housing starts fell to an 18-month low in october. mortgage applications falling to their lowest level in four months. and gm is back. it just priced its ipo at $33 a share that is the high end of expectations on 478 million shares of common stock. it starts trading tomorrow under the symbol gm that is it from cnbc first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." i'm michael smerconish. republicans indicated how they intend to deal with president obama when they rebuffed his postelection invite to the white house, which was scheduled for tomorrow. the president billed the summit as a necessary first step in the reconciliation process for both sides, so will their snub give him the upper hand? eugene robinson is a "washington post" columnist and msnbc political analyst. ms in. bc political analyst richard wolffe is the author of "revival, the struck thele for survival inside the obama white house". gene what a sad day, because of the optics, an overture from the president to the incoming class and leadership is canceled, snubbed, use whatever word choice you see fit. >> yeah. it is -- it is pretty amazing. i mean, i think it is -- it does

certainly make the president appear to be taking the high road. he is the president of the united states, turn down that invitation or postpone that invitation from the president doesn't look good. look at the last time there was a kind of public encounter between the president and republican caucus, it didn't go that well for the republicans. >> you talking about baltimore? >> up in about the more. that's right. and you can -- one can understand the republicans wanting to kind of have their act together, get on the same page about how they are going to go into this new phase before doing that nonetheless it is the president of the united states. and when he invites you to the white house, it is protocol to go. >> i don't understand, richard, how the optics are for or against one or the invitation i

break bread in the presidential quarters of the white house. >> people paying attention now, republicans need to learn a lesson from recent history, obama came into power and started just dealing with democrats it backfired on him. you cannot go out there if you think you're winning elections because of independent voters. you cannot go out there and just deal with your own side and play to your own base and if republicans are going to go down that track if they draw that conclusion, they are not going to find they have enough votes when it comes to 2012. they need to hold onto independent voters and obama needs to pull them back. an outstretched hand in that situation is what independent voters want. they shouldn't spurn it, in all political sense. >> richard, allow me to tap into some of that inside knowledge in evidence of your new book, revival. how do you believe within the white house today it plays that nancy pelosi has maintained her leadership position, bus i'm sitting here and i'm saying, you know, he is next in 2012 and he will be saddled now with her role and i can tell you, it was used effectively throughout the country, i referenced earlier

having heard umpteen radio commercials in markets across the wrunt where it was nancy pelosi, the face of the democratic party? >> to put it mildly, they are conflicted about this one. as i recount in revival, they had an extremely difficult set of negotiations with nancy pelosi.l the president told me he enjoyed negotiating with her. i kind of was a bit skeptical about that those negotiations over health care are were so banefully drawn out they cost her not just time but political capital, things extended into massachusetts and beyond. you know, what you have here is someone who though need for her discipline and organization. on the other hand there is some tactical advantage. this is a president who liked to say on the left they want to do this big government stuff and on the right, you are on your own, pelosi and boehner are two useful extremes for the president to say i'm not middle here, a i'll grown up and i can pull these sides together. >> eugene robinson, i would low to have share with you something ohio governor ted strickland said relative to tax cuts.

i would like to see the president say i will not borrow money from china in order to give a tax break to people who make over $1 million a year and there by explode the national debt and say it over and over and over. then he added, like they do on fox news. might we hear something similar to that from the president? >> well, i suppose we might. that is one of the kind of ways this issues has to be finessed. it has to be finessed one way, make it $1 million and not $250,000 or whatever. i'm not sure that is the road the president is going down. i think in the end there is a lot of sentiment on the left of the democratic party to hold tough on the line the president drew, $250,000. in the final analysis, the president -- a deal has to be made and if i had to put money down on it, it would be -- they are going to make a deal.

maybe with some sort of finesse about $1 million as opposed to $250,000, maybe they can get that. >> richard, tomorrow is the gm offering and perhaps you just heard that the stock has been valued on the high end at $33, meaning the high end of expectations, you talk a lot in the book about the poor communications, how it sort of went wrong from the campaign, very adent to becoming very inept. so prognosticate for me. what is the spin tomorrow about gm? how is this portrayed by this white house? >> axelrod told me for my book that people confuse these bailout, they confuse t.a.r.p. and recovery and the auto bailout and all merged into someone. something they have to do the next couple of years, how the tax payer is coming ahead on a number of these things, wall street and everyone else, not easy to do that went economy is still sluggish, as the economy picks up, numbers clear, there is a story they can tell and will have to dell tel and this

debate is going to go anywhere, that means telling their own story are. >> no conversation about the headlines of the day would be complete without reference to governor palin. barbara walters interviewed had her for her most interesting people special to air next month. check out what governor palin said about challenging president obama. let's listen. en i am looking at the lay of the land now, trying to figure out if is a good thing for the country, for the discourse, for my family, good thing. >> if you ran for president, could you beat barack obama? >> i believe so. >> eugene, what else could she say, right? >> what else could she say? you know, i'm hearing distant chorus from the white house saying, run, sarah, run, run, sarah, run. as you know, her negatives are stratospherically high for someone who wants to be elected president. so, that would be very, very difficult for her and i think it would be good political news for

the white house. >> interesting, you say that and my hunch is that someone else cheering this on might sound counterintuitive would be governor mitt romney, i think putting her in the race guarantees a split of whatever conservative vote might be thought that is not going to go in his direction and come backs to this issue of who is able to be dominated versus who is able to be elect and not necessarily one in the same. richard, you want a piece of that? >> i cover the dean camp pain and brief and glorious life in 2004 and it strikes to me that there is a similar dynamic here, grassroots, untested candidate who can go off the rails, democrats look to the numbers, they decided they had to go for a more electable guy, whether mitch daniels or mitt romney or any of the other governors out there running against an incumbent president, bart is that much higher. i will agree with sarah palin, the discourse, at least on cable tv, they will be wonderful. >> my business is dependent upon t thank you, eugene robinson and

richard wolffe. i appreciate your time. we have heard lots offing an better use of full-body scanners at airports. but ma what's the alternative? we have the man. the head of the tsa joins us next. this is "hardball," only on msnbc. if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil. with eight times better wear protection than mobil 1. castrol edge. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. it's the idea that a car that will never have an accident may be possible. in pursuit of this goal, lexus developed the world's most advanced driving simulator, where a real driver in a real car can react to real situations without real consequences. the breakthroughs we innovate here may someday make all cars safer.

this is the pursuit of tomorrow. this is the pursuit of perfection. the democrats lost in a slew of swing states in this year's midterm bus eat look toral map for president obama may not be as narrow as some now feared. we have a new poll from virginia. obama was the first democrat in a generation to carry the state back in 2008 and he looks to be in decent shape against the top republican challengers the next time around. obama would beat mitt romney 48 to 43, top mike huckabee by the nearly same score of 49-44. and if republicans run sarah pail on newt gingrich, president obama's lead widens to 11. he would beat palin 51-40, gingrich, 52-41. "hardball" back after this. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted.

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we are back. as the fight over new airport security screening procedures continues, some pilots are speaking out against them, including the nation's best pilot, captain chesley "sully" sullenberger. here he is on today's programs. >> airlines have concern about the screening procedures. first, they are not an effective and efficient use of our limited resources. i think we need to do a much better job of taking a risk-based approach and i think since airline pilots are already the last line of defense in defending the cockpit against those who might use it for ill and since we are very trusted partners in this important security process, i think we

need to be treated as such. and we already have the means, if the tsa would choose to use it and implement it nationwide, to very quickly identify and verify each pilot's identity, verify their current employment status and that would go a long way to be much more effective meeting any possible threat and we also have concerns about the small additional radiation exposure. >> a new cbs news poll shows the public overwhelmingly spores the procedures. four out of five says airports should use full-body x-ray machines. john pistole is the head of the tsa. respond if you would to captain sullenberger. >> i actually spoke with sully yesterday. we'd good discussion and it is interesting when i started in this position july 1 of this year, i brought a risk-based, intelligence-driven approach of how we go about our job trying to find the best possible security.

the question is what is the best way of implementing some of this risk-based approach. >> in the short version what's the drill, i fly, i walk up, what's about to take place? >> so we have advanced imaging technology in about 80 airports now and if you go there and want to opt-out of that ait machine, then you go through the walk-through metal detector and you would receive what we describe as a thorough patdown f want to go through the ait or walk-through metal detector and no alarms no alerts then there is no patdown. so, that is the basic process, the best way people can prepare is make sure they have everything out of their pockets and nothing in there that would showed up on the advanced imaging technology machinement.

>> relative to the full body scan, have you fully vetted the health concerns? >> before they were deployed, this goes become to the full of '0 to 7, the first ones were deployed, this has been in process quite a while, accelerated after the 12/25 event with abdulmutallab, nonmetallic device you can the fda, national institute of technology and johns hopkins all did independent assessments and all found that the radiation from these machines are well within the acceptable safety limits. >> i'm glad you referenced johns hopkins because, mr. miss stolely, this morning on the radio program, i had james bab, he wrote for "usa today," one of those tries organize a grassroots protest movement and when i raised that subject with him, here's what james bab, runs the we won't fly organization said. i want you to respond. >> the study you mentioned from john hop kips says because of

the large number of people doing this, somebody is going to get cancer from this if it is allowed to continue. >> not saying the johns hopkins people said that, are you? >> yes, i am. >> what's the >>. as i understand that study it talks about the probabilities but it looks at the underlying issue, how much person exposed to, and the analogy was about three minutes of flying at altitude. so let's say 30,000 feet. there have been other people who have done their assessment of the study who have come up with this idea given the millions of air hours people are flying, there is a possibility out there at some point that somebody may, may, in so many mays built in here, may have some additional exposure concerns. so i think i just have to go back to what the fda, nist and johns hopkins say what is safe and acceptable. that was their conclusion. >> here is another i hear t

muslim garb exception. if someone approaches a tsa checkpoint wearing a burqa, what's the drill? >> everybody goes through the same process, so whatever their ethnicity or religious beliefs which i'm sensitive to and appreciate, the bottom line is people are treated the same in terms of either going through the advanced image technology if that's available or the walk-through metal detector. if they alert they have to have that alert resolved and the best way of doing that is through a thorough patdown. >> no free rides. >> that's correct. >> another question. how invasive should a properly carried out patdown actually be? because you know you hear some of the horror stories, there is this kid in california who was raising a beef. how invasive a process should it be? >> so the patdown needs to be thorough enough to detect well-designed, well-concealed,

non-metallic especially, explosive devices such as we saw on 12/25. last christmas. it needs to be thorough, and that this patdown, coupled with the technology is designed to identify and neutralize any possible threat in that regard. >> are you comfortable in saying that there's no way that someone who subjects themselves to the full body scan, will ever have the image that's created broadcast, saved, put out on the internet, et cetera, et cetera, fill in the blank? >> yes, i am because the machines that we have deployed at airports are deployed in the way that has all those capabilities that you mentioned rendered inoperable. we don't have the opportunity to either store, transmit, do anything with those images. they are deleted as soon as the person is cleared, the next image comes up. obviously we don't allow camera,

cell phones with cameras in that screening room. of course we have the screener who sees the image, and again it's an image, i've seen these crazy things out there about the photos and different things. it's an image and with parts blurred and things. but the person who sees that never sees the person, the security officer never sees the image, and again, those images are deleted and not retained. >> finally mr. pistole, captain sullenberger made reference to risk-based. risk based means taking into consideration the commonalities of those who threaten the united states. i'm not going to use that dreaded "p" word because of all of the connotations. are we taking into consideration as we seek to prevent an attack the commonalities of those who would wreak havoc? >> we're trying to do everything possible by the latest intelligence to assure that the traveling public is safe.

if intelligence says there is a group of individuals or specific individual obviously that's the best way to go. when we don't have that intelligence, we try to do a risk-based approach in saying what information do we know about the person, how can that help inform our judgments and actions. but we are moving forward in a risk-based perspective, i think there's more to come on that. but the pilots that we are talking about, i think is a first step, again, in terms of how do we best apply this approach. >> thank you for your time. appreciate it. when we return, why i'm no longer of use helping my fourth-grader to do his math homework. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. a unique sea salt added to over 40 campbell's condensed soups. helps us reduce sodium, but not flavor. so do a few lifts. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™

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let me finish tonight with an update from the home front. i have apparently reached the point i'm of no value when it comes to helping our youngest son with his homework. sooner or later it happens to all of us. the problem, our son is only in the fourth grade. here's the brain teaser he came home with last week. ready? mrs. roden buys a table and six chairs for $1,233, the table costs $750 more than each chair. how much does mrs. roden pay for the six chairs? easy i thought. take the total amount that mrs. roden spent, the 1233, subtract the 750, divide by six.

right? wrong. a couple minutes later i had the iphone out, the calculator function was on, i still couldn't figure it out. soon i was daydreaming about details we didn't know. what kind of table was it? where did she buy it? what do the chairs look like? what do we know about mrs. roden. i was within an inch of pulling out a slide rule. it's been 30 years since i had to do intense math without a texas instrument next to me but i was embarrassed just not too embarrassed to mention my math deficiencies on the radio the following day. and sure enough, plenty of callers couldn't figure out the answer either. it took an arero space engineer to lay out and solve my fourth grade son's extra credit problem. the equation he told me looks like this. 6 x the number of chairs by each one's cost plus x plus 750